The present disclosure generally relates to the field of providing an audio signal containing flight-related information on board an aircraft. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of providing an audio signal that is generated based on predefined data fragments and obtained flight-related information, to a computer program product for carrying out such a method, an apparatus for providing an audio signal containing flight-related information on board an aircraft, and to an aircraft comprising such an apparatus.
Several announcements are usually made on board an aircraft by aircraft personnel like flight attendants and pilots. For example, such announcements are made before or after take-off and landing, but also during flights when special situations like, e.g., turbulent flows arise. In general, two different types of announcements exist on board an aircraft, the first being pre-recorded announcements and the second being live announcements. Pre-recorded announcements are sometimes called Pre-Recorded Announcements and Music (PRAM) and live announcements are often called Passenger Address (PA) announcements. The announcements may contain, among other things, information on a current flight schedule, current flight altitude, current weather reports and weather forecasts at the destination airport, information on connecting flights and safety instructions for the passengers.
However, there sometimes arises the situation that the aircraft personnel are busy when such announcements, especially live announcements shall be provided for distributing certain information to the passengers on board the aircraft. Accordingly, such announcements may then distract the crew member making the announcement from his or her actual duty. Further, at least some of the announcements may be provided to the passengers with a time delay compared to the situation they are directed to. Thus, certain announcements may be no longer suited to the situation to which they refer.
Further, a certain announcement must often be provided in several languages, especially on international flights. This may lead to an unreasonably long time the pilot or the cabin crew has to spend on making the announcements, resulting in a further distraction of the respective cabin crew member from his or her conventional duties.
If many announcements are to be made in many different languages, the cabin crew might have the wish to be relieved from spending lots of time making announcements to the passengers on board the aircraft.
Accordingly, there is a need for a technique to at least partly generate and provide announcements to the passengers on board an aircraft in an automatized manner.